A case-control study of robot-assisted type III radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection compared with open radical hysterectomy.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare robotically assisted hysterectomy (RAH) with open (ORH) type III radical hysterectomy in the treatment of early-stage cervical cancer.


METHODS
The outcomes of 51 consecutive patients who underwent RAH were compared with the outcomes of 49 patients who underwent ORH.


RESULTS
There were no differences with regard to patient demographics. There were significant differences between the groups with regard to operative blood loss (P < .0001), operative time (P = .0002), and lymph node retrieval (P = .0003), all of which were in favor of the RAH cohort. All patients with RAH were discharged on postoperative day 1, compared with a 3.2-day average hospitalization for the cohort with ORH. The incidence of postoperative complications was 7.8% and 16.3% for the RAH and ORH cohorts, respectively (P = .35).


CONCLUSIONS
Robotic type III radical hysterectomy with pelvic node dissection is feasible and may be preferable over open radical hysterectomy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. Further study will determine procedure generalizability and long-term oncologic outcomes.
Boggess
John F
JF
Division of Gynecology Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UNC School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. jboggess@med.unc.edu
Gehrig
Paola A
PA
Cantrell
Leigh
L
Shafer
Aaron
A
Ridgway
Mildred
M
Skinner
Elizabeth N
EN
Fowler
Wesley C
WC
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000601:surgery; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D011247:Pregnancy; D012371:Robotics; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*